Legal services are undoubtedly considered one of the most expensive and useful services needed by the person during their life after medical care and investing in houses. Luckily, there are several places where you can get free or cost-effective legal services, including legal services offered by the government, Law schools, and law firms in Singapore.
If you are also searching for several types of legal services, we have got you covered. Below we have included list of several types of legal services available in Singapore.
Public Defenders
If the police have arrested you for a criminal offense and you have been taken to court for further hearings and you do not have enough funds to hire a lawyer. In that case, the particular person will be eligible to acquire the legal service in Singapore i.e., Public defenders.
According to Singapore law, any person who does not have enough sources to afford a lawyer has the right to get free legal service to put up their explanation for the criminal trials. Usually, such attorneys are elected by a judge from the public defenders’ office for the case.
The appointed attorney will be assigned your case throughout a criminal trial. In case you lose your criminal trial, your attorney will represent you on your first appeal as well.
Get Fast & Accurate official notarization for ICA, MOM, MFA.
Legal Aid Clinics
If you feel the need to take legal action against anyone to protect your interest but cannot do so due to a lack of funds to hire a private lawyer. In such a situation, you will be entitled to legal aid, also known as legal services.
However, the legal aid attorneys and organizations usually get the money from the Singapore government, and they are usually assigned to handling the cases, especially for poor people. Due to the limited funds, legal aid societies and lawyers can only handle a few selected cases.
Normally, the legal aid attorneys and lawyers only take up those cases that involve eliminating unemployment benefits, consumer credit issues, social security benefits, landlord tenant-related issues, eviction, and several other things.
Before approaching or seeking to acquire free legal service from the attorney and the organization, you must make sure that you actually qualify for such services. In most cases, the legal aid organization and lawyers only accept cases from those who earn a limited amount of money each year.
You can either search on the internet or call the local association to contact for the legal aid Society to confirm if you get eligible to acquire legal services. Because of limited government funding, these groups may not accept your case, or it will take a long time to process it.
Personal Injury Attorneys on Contingency
Most personal injury attorney only accepts the case based on a contingency fee basis; this means that you do not require to make any advance payment or upfront to the lawyer. I
instead, they only get paid if the victim gets the compensation money. An attorney who will work on a contingent fee basis is great for those who know they will win their case but do not have the financial means to pay an hourly fee.
With a contingency fee basis, you and your lawyer decide how much of the attorney’s reward is if the case is successful. The percentage is usually somewhere between 30-40%, but it may differ depending on the cases and province.
Also, remember that the percentage amount does not cover the cost incurred by lawyers, including filing and court fees. If your case is taken to trial and you win the case, the judge may provide you with the costs of the legal action taken apart from the judgment amount of the personal injury.
Hire a Language translator for converting your legal & Other Documents.
Pro Bono Services
Lawyers currently involved in private practices and infirm usually need to keep aside some part of their time managing pro bono cases. The pro bono services offered by community legal aid clinics are usually provided to people who earn less than 125 per cent of the federal poverty level.
Social Justice Organizations
Most of the time, you might have interacted with the attorney ready to offer the free legal service if you are involved in cases concerning social justice. Social justice issues are easy to determine since they will have many implications, which might completely give the new scope to the case that may also involve sexual harassment in the workplace or freedom of speech.
For example, suppose you are trying to take legal action against the landlord for racially discriminating against you. For such a case, you can easily get the attorney interested in accepting your case on a pro bono basis since this case can create a negative influence over the community instead of just being limited to your specific problems.
Numerous organizations provide free legal services concerning social justice issues, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Law School Legal Clinics
Many law schools have legal clinics that provide free legal services mainly to low-income clients, which law students provide under the guidance of attorneys (usually clinical professors).
However, this kind of pro bono work is provided in specific areas of law, including family law, elder law, landlord-tenant law, health care law, and financial assistance.
In addition, law students can offer you legal services ranging from research and writing, drafting legal documents, client interviews, and negotiating and preparing for court hearings.
Hopefully, the above article might have cleared all your concerns about the types of legal services in Singapore. So now choose the legal service according to your needs and requirements.
Undoubtedly many non-English speaking foreigners might face language issues while submitting legal documents in Singapore court as Singapore authorities consider only those documents that are in English.
Choose Singapore translators as your affordable legal translation
Now say goodbye to all your documents translation problems as we at Singapore translators offer you legal documents translation services at a cost-effective price. What keeps us ahead of other service providers is our dedicated team of ica certified translators who are always ready to offer you the best translations.
